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I walk back inside the house.

I don’t want to be in my room right now, so I head to the gym instead. I lift weights, trying to go heavier than I’ve ever done before. The strain of my muscles against my skin makes some of the cuts reopen.

I look at my reflection in the mirror.

I’m bleeding, bruised, haunted.

The noise in my head is louder than ever, louder than my own thoughts. It feels like I’m right back in Afghanistan, when the enemies captured me and left scars that would take more than a lifetime to heal. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

There’s just endless darkness.

All of the demons that I try to keep chained in my head have been unleashed. They roam free.

I stagger back to my room a few minutes after midnight.

I immediately notice something is different. The curtains are parted, making moonlight spill across the floor. There’s a sweet quality to the air.

And there’s a slight figure in my bed.

My heart skips a beat.

I close the door behind me and approach the bed cautiously. I walk around it to see that she’s asleep in my bed. Her dark curls cover my pillow.

As if she can feel me watching, she stirs in her sleep and wakes up.

She blinks up at me. “Oh. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

She sits up in bed, and I see that she’s still in that Halloween costume.

“What are you doing here?” My voice is unnaturally cold.

“I...I was waiting for you,” she says. “You said that you wanted to have a word with me.”

“This isn’t a good time, Emma,” I say. “Leave.”

All the voices inside me are roaring at full volume now. They make promises of leaving only when I’m buried deep inside this innocent girl.

My mind and my heart are at war.

It would be so easy to take her, but if I did that, I’m going to ruin her.

“I really don’t understand,” she whispers. “You held me in your arms last night, but you can’t even bring yourself to have a conversation with me now.”

I could tell her the truth. That I’m no good for her. But instead, I remain silent.

“I was worried about you,” she says. “I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

She slips the covers off her body and stands before me. The urge to mate this woman is all that remains in my head now. She turns me into a fucking animal.

“One last chance, Emma,” I say. “Leave.”

She takes a step closer. “But I like the things you do to me when I stay.”

Her words become my undoing. The beast inside me takes over. Humankind has undergone hundreds of years of evolution, but this girl reduces me to a caveman.

And there’s only one thought left in my head—breed this woman.

I grab a fistful of her hair and tug it back. She stares up at me with parted lips.